"We're not going to beat George W. Bush with old-style, fudge-it-up politics," retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark said as the seven-candidate field steamed toward a seven-state showdown Tuesday. Kerry's campaign said the criticism was a sign of desperation.

Polls showed the Massachusetts senator with a commanding lead in Missouri, Arizona and North Dakota -- states with 143 of the 269 delegates at stake. Kerry was competitive in two other states, South Carolina and Oklahoma, and party strategists gave him the edge in New Mexico and Delaware.

Kerry hopes to knock Clark and Sen. John Edwards from the race Tuesday, then finish off a staggering Howard Dean four days later in Michigan and Washington state.

Dean, trying to salvage his campaign after losing to Kerry in Iowa and New Hampshire, questioned his rival's Senate record.

"If Senator Kerry had accomplished anything in health care, he ought to be able to explain to the people of South Carolina how come there are so many uninsured kids here and there aren't any in my state," said the former Vermont governor.

He said Democrats need "a doer, not a talker" to beat President Bush in the fall.

Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Dean is in no position to point fingers. "If Howard Dean wants to talk about records of accomplishment, then he has some explaining to do about balancing the Vermont budget on the backs of the poor, not taking action to better secure a nuclear power plant in the wake of Sept. 11 and throwing 400 family farms out of business," Cutter said.

Dean bristled at Kerry's suggestion that the former governor doesn't know enough about how Congress works. "That's just Washington blather," he said.

In Washington, the Communications Workers of America, with 700,000 members, endorsed Kerry and Michigan's largest teachers union, the 157,000-member Michigan Education Association, gave its support. A third union, the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, plans to announce its backing next week.

Two members of the Congressional Black Caucus also announced their endorsements Friday, with Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., backing Edwards and Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., supporting Kerry.

Bush cast his eyes warily on the race, planning a trip next Thursday to South Carolina. He campaigned in New Hampshire two days after the Granite State primary to counter Democratic criticism.

Kerry, Dean and four candidates addressed a forum on low income and minority issues in South Carolina, where about half of voting Democrats are minorities.

"I'm the only one who has been a civil rights activist in this race," said Al Sharpton, the field's only black. "The rest of these people talked about what should be done. I did something about it."

Surveys show Sharpton with single-digit support in South Carolina, though state Democrats said pollsters might be underestimating his support among blacks.

The other candidates had to work harder to connect with black voters.

Clark told a Benedict College crowd that he opposed racial profiling by police, because he was once a victim of it. Clark said he was an Army captain in 1968 when he raised the suspicions of a police officer by wearing slightly long hair and driving a car with a German license plate.

Edwards insisted he was the only politician who talked about poverty, an important issue to his audience.

"It's one thing for people to come in front of you and talk about poverty," Edwards told his native-state crowd. "It's a different thing to talk about poverty every time you speak, everywhere in America, which is what I do."

Kerry pointed to his service in the Vietnam War.

"Most of the kids I was with in Vietnam came out of the South side of Chicago, South-central Los Angeles or the barrio or elsewhere," he said. "They weren't the kids from the university that I went to."

Kerry was a Navy officer during the war and earned a string of decorations, including three purple hearts. His Vietnam colleagues travel with Kerry, offering testimonials credited with turning his campaign around.

"In the heat of battle you learn about a man," said Rev. David Alston, a gunner on Kerry's boat. Kerry and Edwards poured more money into South Carolina ad campaigns. Polls show them tied in a state Edwards must win. Clark is trailing in state surveys, despite spending about $2.3 million on commercials in the first-in-the-South primary.

Kerry, Clark and Edwards are locked in a tight race in Oklahoma.

Clark faulted Kerry for failing to take responsibility for a 1992 comment on affirmative action. "When you make a mistake, you ought to fess up to it," the Arkansan said.

In a debate Thursday, Kerry was asked about reservations he had expressed about affirmative action 12 years ago. Kerry said he was only agreeing with then-President Clinton.